Omlin, Olschowsky and Bensebaini absent as a new training week begins

On Tuesday afternoon, the Foals began their preparations for this Saturday’s away trip to face RB Leipzig (15:30 CET). Head coach Daniel Farke was without Jonas Omlin, Jan Olschowsky and Ramy Bensebaini for the session.

The initial warm-up and passing exercises were completed with the usual predominantly white Derbystar balls. After around 45 minutes, however, they had to be swapped out for the rarely seen orange balls, as heavy snowfall in Mönchengladbach served as a reminder that winter is yet to bid auf Wiedersehen. Despite the chilly temperatures, the Foals put in an intensive 100-minute shift as they began work towards Saturday’s away game at RB Leipzig.

Not only was Daniel Farke still without long-term absentees Julian Weigl (ankle) and Tony Jantschke (knee), but there was also no sign of goalkeepers Jonas Omlin and Jan Olschowsky. “Jan has picked up a rare stomach virus and has now lost five kilos in bodyweight. He will still be out for a while and will definitely miss the game on the weekend,” said the boss after Tuesday’s session, before also giving an update on Omlin: “We did a follow-up MRI scan because he still had an issue, and there was a minor haemorrhage in his thigh muscle. He probably won’t be available for the Leipzig game either.” That meant that Tobias Sippel was joined by U19s goalkeeper Linus Wirth for the session, with Florian Dimmer, who was in the squad against Freiburg, playing for the U23s in the EUREGIO Cup instead.

Ramy Bensebaini also wasn’t involved, with the left-back having picked up a knock to his thigh. “Ramy has some minor muscular problems and trained individually today. I think that he will be able to return to team training towards the end of the week though,” was Farke’s assessment. The Algerian won’t be an option in Leipzig in any case, having been sent off last time out against Freiburg and now serving a suspension.

There are four more sessions before Saturday’s Bundesliga fixture, with the Foals training twice on Wednesday, as well as once on Thursday and Friday.